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princessclyne69Participant
That’s a fabulous build.
RG7
princessclyne69ParticipantThe 861 is one of three coaches built by Budd for the Colorado Eagle as add-on cars in about 1948 (860-862). They were standard flat-top coaches, and were built at the same time as three dome-coaches, also by Budd, to add two cars to the consist of each train.
The 871 is a grill-coach, built by ACF. The end opposite the vestibule has a small kitchen and a serving window that faces the coach seats. There is a pair of tables at the seats closest to the kitchen. These followed a long tradition on the MoPac of having a small food-service facility for secondary trains.
RG7
princessclyne69ParticipantI don’t use digests, since too much stuff comes into my email accounts as it is. But I have been seeing something curious.
In my header, I see ‘your last visit was Sat, May 14, 2022 10:37 am.’
RG7
princessclyne69ParticipantI haven’t figured exactly when either of these programs was begun. I think the first spark arrestors, the early style, started to appear around this time, and possibly only in areas where they were most needed, such as rural areas in the Midwest.
Cutting out the side skirts may have started earlier, maybe by mid-fifties. That work and the addition of MU connections to the front ends of F units may have happened at about the same time.
RG7
princessclyne69ParticipantI went looking for info on these cars and found a post on STMFC, 153562 from 11/02/17, from Tim O’Connor noting that these cars came from the Wabash. Further stated that the Wabash cars were built 1944 at Decatur shops.
They were covered in RPCyc volume 28. I’m in Houston and my files are in Wichita, so I wasn’t able to track this down firsthand.
RG7
princessclyne69ParticipantCharlie:
I suppose I should check who the seller is, first.
RG7
princessclyne69ParticipantI’m working my way slowly through this book. Just finished the steam sections yesterday.
One thing I was amazed to see is the random freight cars, like the gons in the engine facilities waiting to be loaded with cinders.
Some of those cars, I had never seen a photo of. The only knowledge I had ever had of their existence was through diagrams. For that alone, I’m glad to see this book. But I’m especially pleased to see the diversity of locations.
RG7
princessclyne69ParticipantI have a Pat Coughlin CD containing about 500 Dick Kuelbs photos of T&P equipment. This series of cars does not appear to be covered here. And I don’t see where I ever shot one either.
However, the T&P and MP built a number of series of covered hopper cars in the late 50s and they are all similar in design details. Think those older ACF-style designs, with square hatches, no cutouts between hoppers, about the same height as the typical “1958 cuft” version.
These cars were built in two-hopper, three-hopper and four-hopper versions.
RG7
princessclyne69ParticipantWhat does the back side look like? How similar is it to the ones that were on the RS3s?
It may be designed somewhat differently, in that this one looks like it was designed for a one-piece numberboard while the diesel ones look like they had individual numbers.
And that’s a pretty nifty casting that it sits on.
RG7
princessclyne69ParticipantYet anther one, just seen on eBay: MP 58. This photo shows it at a shop, definitely derelict, some pieces missing including the lower headlight and the portion of the stainless Eagle that was mounted on the nose door. Horns are missing, as is the shield below the coupler that was supposed to protect the steam line.
RG7
princessclyne69ParticipantThe last two F units retired were the (1)932 and one other TP unit. I saw this unit twice in its last months, once on a tour of Centennial shop and once on a trip into Wichita. This unit was also the highest-numbered of the T&P F-unit order, and one of the four painted in the passenger colors.
Date was the spring of 1974.
RG7
princessclyne69ParticipantNothing specific, but on the Steam Freight Cars forum there has been occasional discussion about standard tank cars converted to two- or three-compartment cars. This was done by adding internal heads and adding a dome for each new compartment. The original dome, sized for the entire original tank, stayed in place and a new, smaller, dome was added for the new tank. In this case, it looks like the tank was split two-thirds/one-third or thereabouts. It was probably more common, based on photo evidence, to turn a car into a three-compartment tank, but I believe this configuration has been documented as well. I don’t recall if there are any specific documents on this conversion, other than photos that have turned up. Needless to say, this was relatively rare. Best guess is the twenties and thirties are when this might have happened.
One possible reason this was done was for delivery to smaller customers, who might receive shipments of (I’m hypothesizing here) kerosene and motor oil, but didn’t want to order either one by the carload. By the time I came along in the late sixties, it was likely that such smaller customers had mostly been switched to truck delivery.
Hope this helps.
RG7
princessclyne69ParticipantThe branch that was extending north from Hoisington, at the east end of the yard, was called the Kanbrick branch. It’s shown on the Condensed Profile chart I have as 2-1/2 miles long. Today this line appears to be not more than a half-mile long, just an industry track. The industry it serves appears to receive plastic pellet cars, as best I can tell. It’s not a brick plant, and I can’t now see any trace of one.
But originally it went farther north. Google satellite views show an abandoned line going north and a bit east. The Condensed Profile peters out about two miles beyond, at a place called Dent. There was probably more, but almost all my resource material is not with me. I’m sure others can supply more information.
There is another branch going south, coming off the main line at the west end of town and going to Great Bend. That one might have been competition for the Santa Fe for local traffic out of Great Bend.
Of course, Hoisington was a division point, had a big roundhouse and always had a big yard.
Back to Horace. These really are “twin towns”, Horace and Tribune. There were a couple of sidings at each town, and Horace did once have a bit of a yard. There’s a wye north of the main at Horace, which is still there. The predominant local industry is grain, of course, and cattle.
RG7
princessclyne69ParticipantI won’t be much help, but the glass in a modern gauge glass pretty much looks like that. The ribs make it easier to see the level from an angle (reflex glass). Modern ones may be more precisely shaped, but that’s about the extent of the difference.
RG7
princessclyne69ParticipantAndrew:
There’s a summary of major rule changes nationwide, with dates, on the STMFC site, under Files. It’s in three different file types.
https://realstmfc.groups.io/g/main/filessearch?p=name%2C%2C%2C20%2C1%2C0%2C0&q=AAR+rules
If you have trouble reaching this site, let me know and I’ll send you a copy of that file separately.
In the US, the Interstate Commerce Commission and, later, the Federal Railroad Administration, made rules that applied to all railroad activities (federal law), while the Association of American Railroads made rules that primarily affected car construction by allowing one railroad to refuse to accept a car in interchange if it didn’t conform. This had the effect of outlawing most non-conforming practices since most freight cars were in unrestricted service. Sorry if this explanation is too high level.
Now to the particulars.
By the 79 to 81 period, the removal of roofwalks was largely completed. MP did this as frequently as any other major railroad.
Friction bearing (plain bearing) trucks were still common on older cars. They weren’t outlawed in interchange until 1991. The re-equipping of older cars with roller bearing trucks had not really begun.
MP did still own a significant number of 40′ boxcars, mainly used in grain service on several branchlines with light rail that could not accommodate those 100 ton covered hoppers. Some of these cars could have been, in effect, not used in interchange if they shuttled between country grain elevators and larger terminal elevators that were still on MP rails.
Another separate artifact of this period is the yellow-dot rule, in effect from 1978 to 1981, requiring inspection of all freight cars for the presence of certain outlawed wheel types (necessitated by failures). Most freight cars would have acquired either the white dot or yellow dot on black square during this period. The two-panel COTS stencil would have been prevalent on cars by this time.
In 1970, on the St. Louis-Texarkana train, I met a guy who was an MP employee, naturally traveling on a pass, who would have preferred to have been on Delta Airlines. He had until recently been a passenger car inspector, but had taken another job as an AAR inspector, focusing on compliance with those AAR rules.
Regards,
RG7
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